October 9, 2012 (Broadband; Wireless; TV)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012
The FCC’s Open Internet Advisory Committee; Science and Tech Policy, and Perspectives on Competitive Fiber Networks: Past, Present, and Future http://benton.org/calendar/2012-10-09/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
US says will oppose major revisions of global telecom rules
NTIA’s Fourteenth Quarterly Status Report to Congress Regarding BTOP
US needs frank talk about cyberweapons - editorial
White House Seeks Cybersecurity Input From Businesses, Congress [links to web]
Sen Lieberman: Obama could issue cybersecurity order in the next month [links to web]
White House discusses cybersecurity order with Senate staff [links to web]
Cyberattacks cost U.S. businesses an average $8.9 million annually, study says [links to web]
NTIA Letter to ICANN on new gTLDs [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
When Is Wireless Consolidation Good for Consumers? - analysis
A Stronger T-Mobile Could Help Keep Verizon and AT&T in Check - analysis
Two Networks, One Company: T-Mobile Explains Why Its MetroPCS Deal Can Work - analysis [links to web]
Bidding war looms in US mobile sector - analysis [links to web]
635,392 U.S. Road Miles Lack 3G or 4G
How the mobile industry can support 1,000x growth in broadband traffic - op-ed
The Patent, Used as a Sword
Putting brakes on ride-sharing apps [links to web]
TELEVISION
FCC frees up cable operators from program access rules
Happy 20th Birthday to Retransmission Consent - editorial [links to web]
GLAAD Finds More Gay and Lesbian Characters on Television [links to web]
For Latinos, TV Viewing Is Family Affair [links to web]
Cable Subscribers Frustrated, Up Channel Surfing, Streaming [links to web]
PRIVACY
Facebook Seeks Dismissal of $15 Billion Privacy Suit [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
The Cacophony of Money - editorial
Enabling the jobs report conspiracy theory
What's Hot and What's Not in 2012 Presidential Advertising - op-ed
Study: Obama, Romney Wage Most Negative Race in Recent History [links to web]
NBC tells Obama not to use footage
Romney and G.O.P. Make Inroads in Silicon Valley [links to web]
Campaigns Use Social Media to Lure Younger Voters [links to web]
Wives Take the Campaign to Newsstands [links to web]
'No politics' tool seeks to keep media 'social' [links to web]
How Conservatives Treat Media Bias - analysis [links to web]
Election 2012: Obama Outspends Romney On TV Front [links to web]
Social Media Debate Sentiment Less Critical of Obama than polls and press are - research [links to web]
CONTENT
Emergency Responders Tap the Twitterverse [links to web]
A Google Book deal is good for everyone – except maybe Amazon - analysis [links to web]
PBS shows quick ad instincts with ‘Big Bird’ Twitter buy [links to web]
YouTube to Serve Niche Tastes by Adding Channels [links to web]
Stop checking your email, now. [links to web]
Cable Subscribers Frustrated, Up Channel Surfing, Streaming [links to web]
COMMUNITY MEDIA
Survey: Most U.S. adults get news via TV [links to web]
New Orleans Residents Now Turn To TV For Local News [links to web]
ACCESSIBILITY
Biennial Report to Congress as Required by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 [links to web]
HEALTH
Redefining Medicine With Apps and iPads [links to web]
With Telemedicine as Bridge, No Hospital Is an Island [links to web]
The Ups and Downs of Electronic Medical Records [links to web]
E-Health Opportunities for Seniors [links to web]
LABOR
Why cheaper computers lead to higher tuition - analysis
IT job numbers decline for first time in 25 months [links to web]
Foxconn workers reportedly walk off iPhone 5 production lines
RESEARCH
The Seeds That Federal Money Can Plant
5 ways Big data is transforming everyday life [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Amazon to Buy Headquarter Buildings for $1.2 Billion [links to web]
YouTube to Serve Niche Tastes by Adding Channels [links to web]
Tribune Company's new owners on a mission to monetize media firm [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Panel recommends banning China's ZTE, Huawei from US market
(Chinese telecom firms brace for accusations of spying in new report)
Why America Is Really Worried About Huawei - analysis [links to web]
Why nobody really wants to get to the bottom of China, ZTE and Huawei - analysis [links to web]
Cisco cuts ties to China's ZTE after Iran probe [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
US says will oppose major revisions of global telecom rules
Foxconn workers reportedly walk off iPhone 5 production lines
Philippine Supreme Court suspends cybercrime law [links to web]
Law comes to one of the Internet's Wild Wests [links to web]
EU happy with UK rural broadband plan
Google's privacy policy: EU data protection chiefs 'to act within days'
G-mail lawsuit an ‘are-you-kidding-me’ type case, says U.S. academic
Pith Follows British Leader on Twitter [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
BTOP REPORT
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides this Quarterly Report on the status of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). This Report focuses on the Program’s activities from April 1 to June 30, 2012. From April to June 2012, BTOP grant recipients continued to demonstrate strong performance across the Program’s FY12 goals. These positive results have helped the Program deliver significant progress in areas such as new fiber-optic infrastructure construction, the opening of new PCCs, and thousands of new broadband subscribers now experiencing the benefits of high-speed Internet service. Recipients’ quarterly progress reports, which were made public at the beginning of September 2012, provide a more granular depiction of these results.
The Program made considerable progress in deploying network miles during this quarter with widespread construction activity occurring during spring 2012. Recipients also continued to lease dark fiber and existing broadband facilities when available. BTOP recipients also exceeded NTIA’s FY12 goal to deploy 50,000 new or upgraded network miles across the country. Recipients deployed nearly 15,000 network miles during the past quarter, bringing the total number of miles to more than 72,000. Through June 30, 2012, recipients were deploying facilities in 47 states and territories. NTIA expects the pace of network construction to remain strong through the summer and fall of 2012 as most recipients are engaged in the implementation phase of their projects.
Last quarter, BTOP recipients connected and/or improved service to nearly 1,700 anchor institutions within their project areas, bringing the total number of institutions to more than 10,000 across 41 states and territories. The total number of anchors connected with BTOP funds increased by 20 percent from the previous quarter. With the activity this quarter, NTIA reached its FY12 goal to connect 10,000 institutions. As BTOP recipients deploy additional new network miles, they will continue to provide more institutions with faster and more reliable high-speed Internet access.
Through June 2012, 64 BTOP recipients installed more than 36,000 new workstations in Public Computer Centers across 40 states. PCC recipients continued to make considerable progress last quarter, exceeding the FY12 goal to install 35,000 new or upgraded public workstations. Recipients installing workstations also continue to develop and implement training programs and educational courses, including much-needed job training. During the quarter, public computer centers provided 1.4 million hours of training to 371,000 users.
Through June 2012, 34 BTOP recipients reported that more than 380,000 households and 8,000 businesses subscribed to broadband services after receiving digital literacy or job training. New subscribers for the past quarter totaled nearly 55,000, meaning that more Americans are now using the Internet to search and apply for jobs, advance their educational goals, and find health-related information. Nearly 79 percent of SBA grant recipients reported new broadband subscribers. NTIA expects the number of new subscribers to continue to increase as more households complete training programs, receive subsidized computer equipment or broadband service, and take advantage of workstations and discounted subscriptions provided by BTOP funds. BTOP recipients exceeded NTIA’s FY12 goal of 350,000 planned new broadband subscribers.
During the third quarter of FY12, BTOP recipients spent more than $420 million in Federal grant funds. These funds were matched by recipient contributions of nearly $125 million. Cumulatively, Federal outlays for the Program totaled $2.1 billion, while total recipient matching contributions exceeded $820 million.
benton.org/node/136475 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | B&C
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FRANK TALK ABOUT CYBERWEAPONS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Pentagon says cyberspace is an operational domain on par with land, sea, air and outer space, and there is little doubt that a global cyberarms race is getting underway. The United States is already well engaged in this race, as evidenced by reports of the computer worm Stuxnet, used to attack Iran’s nuclear enrichment equipment. But so far these efforts have largely been kept secret and conducted as intelligence operations. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s upcoming workshop on cyberwar points again to the need for more transparency. The United States still has no open, overarching doctrine to govern a cyberweapons program. A good place to start would be a declaratory policy that would lay out when and under what circumstances offensive weapons such as Stuxnet might be used. After that, an open discussion is needed about rules of engagement for this complex new field, along with additional study of such issues as how and whether the military should protect non-military assets in government and the private sector.
benton.org/node/136560 | Washington Post
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
WIRELESS CONSOLIDATION AND CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] On October 2, we first read confirmed reports that Deutsche Telekom was in talks with MetroPCS Wireless on a possible deal to combine T-Mobile USA with MetroPCS. MetroPCS sells flat-rate monthly plans and has 9.3 million subscribers, including about 700,000 customers on its LTE network. The MetroPCS network covers 102 million people in the U.S. MetroPCS's 3G network uses CDMA, a different technology from T-Mobile's GSM-based system. Deutsche Telekom, based in Germany, is the parent company of T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest U.S. mobile operator. Federal regulators, Headlines readers well know, blocked AT&T’s attempt to acquire T-Mobile last year saying it was anti-competitive. A breakup deal gave T-Mobile $3 billion cash and spectrum licenses in 128 markets. This new deal puts T-Mobile on stabler ground, and could be seen as vindication for the regulators' decision that T-Mobile could compete on its own.
http://benton.org/node/136407
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A STRONGER T-MOBILE, AT&T AND VERIZON
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer]
[Commentary] T-Mobile and Metro PCS have announced that they intend to combine into a new company. The deal needs to obtain regulatory approval--and Sprint might make things more interesting with a bid for Metro PCS of its own. But just looking at the proposal on its own terms, this is a very different situation from when AT&T tried to buy T-Mobile. That transaction would have gutted nationwide wireless competition. The T-Mobile/Metro PCS deal could improve it. On balance, this transaction is likely to be good for value-conscious subscribers, including prepaid customers. As the domestic wireless market has approached saturation, even AT&T and Verizon have found it worthwhile to go after prepaid users. Since T-Mobile still positions itself as a "value" carrier, it seems likely that it'll continue to offer the same kinds of plans it offers today. Moreover, a stronger T-Mobile might actually put some pricing pressure on AT&T and Verizon, which would be a big win for consumers overall. If it does turn out that there are particular problems that are not yet apparent--consumers left behind, or local markets were there are competition problems--the FCC should certainly dig into them and use its public interest authority to craft an appropriate remedy.
benton.org/node/136447 | Public Knowledge
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1000X MOBILE BROADBAND GROWTH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Prakash Sangam]
[Commentary] Mobile data traffic has almost doubled annually over the last few years and continues to grow unabated, prompting the industry to take drastic measures. While demand projections vary, the goal of “1,000x growth” captures the sentiment. Does 1,000x sound like a tough challenge? Yes. Is it possible to support such growth? Yes, especially when you examine the technological advancements in the pipeline and put your faith in the brain trust working on future enhancements. This challenge will test a few limits of technology (literally — think Shannon’s limit) along with our belief that the human mind can use innovation to overcome big challenges. What’s needed? You start by improving existing networks—continuing to evolve 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi. But a challenge of this magnitude needs more resources and, more importantly, radically new ways of acquiring, deploying, managing and optimizing these resources.
[Sangam is a senior manager of technical marketing at Qualcomm]
benton.org/node/136479 | GigaOm
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AREAS WITHOUT 3G OR 4G
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: David Talbot]
Amid the recent release of new ultrafast smartphone models, two interactive maps provide a reminder of the United States' wireless divide and the incremental progress in closing it. One shows areas that still lack coverage for 3G or 4G wireless coverage. It includes 1,738,828 residents and 653,392 miles of highways and secondary roads (including a few stretches of the fabled Route 66 through northern New Mexico and Arizona). If you live in one of these areas or are driving through, you’ll find no 4G or even 3G service for your new iPhone5, Droid Razr M, Nokia Lumia 900, or other smartphone. Another shows the areas with 224,462 residents, and 83,000 miles of roads, expected to start getting service thanks to $300 million worth of grants the Federal Communications Commission announced. The money is going to large and small wireless carriers, following a bidding process favoring areas that would get the most road miles covered.
benton.org/node/136511 | Technology Review
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THE PATENT, USED AS A SWORD
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charles Duhigg, Steve Lohr]
Alongside the impressive technological advances of the last two decades, a pall has descended: the marketplace for new ideas has been corrupted by software patents used as destructive weapons. In the smartphone industry alone, according to a Stanford University analysis, as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and patent purchases in the last two years — an amount equal to eight Mars rover missions. Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple and Google on patent lawsuits and unusually big-dollar patent purchases exceeded spending on research and development of new products, according to public filings. Patents are vitally important to protecting intellectual property. Plenty of creativity occurs within the technology industry, and without patents, executives say they could never justify spending fortunes on new products. And academics say that some aspects of the patent system, like protections for pharmaceuticals, often function smoothly. However, many people argue that the nation’s patent rules, intended for a mechanical world, are inadequate in today’s digital marketplace. Unlike patents for new drug formulas, patents on software often effectively grant ownership of concepts, rather than tangible creations. Today, the patent office routinely approves patents that describe vague algorithms or business methods, like a software system for calculating online prices, without patent examiners demanding specifics about how those calculations occur or how the software operates. As a result, some patents are so broad that they allow patent holders to claim sweeping ownership of seemingly unrelated products built by others. Often, companies are sued for violating patents they never knew existed or never dreamed might apply to their creations, at a cost shouldered by consumers in the form of higher prices and fewer choices.
benton.org/node/136543 | New York Times
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TELEVISION
CABLE ACCESS RULES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The Federal Communications Commission decided to free cable operators from obligations to provide non-sports cable channels they own to rival satellite and phone companies that also provide video services. The move comes after the FCC decided not to extend its “program access” rules, first enacted 20 years ago as a way to ensure that rivals could compete with big cable companies. By allowing those programs to expire, the FCC freed cable companies from obligations to license “must-see” programming. But even after the change, cable channels will have to provide sports programming they own. In a unanimous decision, the FCC concluded that the pay-TV marketplace is now competitive enough that the rules are no longer necessary. The order allows the FCC to continue to review video distribution agreements on a case-by-case basis. The FCC may have had little choice but to allow the rules to expire. Judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in 2007 that they anticipated that by 2012, the rules would no longer be justified.
benton.org/node/136478 | Washington Post | FCC Report & Order | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Rosenworcel | Commissioner Pai | The Hill | B&C | B&C – reaction | B&C – FCC Commissioners | AdWeek | National Journal
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
THE CACOPHONY OF MONEY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Two-thirds of the $50 million spent on Mitt Romney’s behalf in Ohio has come from outside “super PACs” and other so-called independent groups, and yet Mr. Romney has lagged behind in all of the major Ohio polls. Hundreds of millions in third-party spending from unlimited checks, much of it from undisclosed donors, has also failed to give Mr. Romney a clear lead in any of the other swing states. If Mr. Romney loses the presidential race — which is far from a sure thing — does that mean the big check writers will declare the process a waste of money and stay out of politics the next time around? Don’t count on it. This is only the first presidential election in the Citizens United era of unlimited spending, and the first since 1976 in which both presidential candidates spurned the public finance system. All the big players are learning lessons about how the process works in an ugly new world, and will be fine-tuning their strategies once they determine what was effective and what was not. There may be some changes in how unlimited money is spent, but now that it has been unleashed, only a constitutional amendment or a careful system of regulation can bottle it back up. The need to do so will remain one of the most urgent challenges facing every lawmaker. Most of the approximately $593 million that has been spent so far by outside groups during this election cycle has gone into television advertising, and it has oversaturated hundreds of markets in the important swing states, in combination with ads from the campaigns themselves.
benton.org/node/136541 | New York Times
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JOBS REPORT CONSPIRACY
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Brendan Nyhan]
[Commentary] Media ethics pop quiz: When conspiracy theories started circulating on Twitter claiming that Friday’s jobs report had been politically manipulated, what should reporters have done?
(a) Avoid covering a baseless and unsubstantiated charge and focus instead on the mainstream debate over the meaning and significance of the jobs report.
(b) Carefully cover the conspiracy theory as news, making clear that no credible evidence exists to support the claim.
(c) Write up “he said,” “she said” news reports that treat the conspiracy theory as a matter of partisan dispute.
One can make a reasonable case for either (a) or (b), but several outlets chose (c) instead, writing up the charges in a format that is likely to help spread the myth and encourage more like it in the future. With incentives like these, should we be surprised that politicians and commentators keep making false claims?
benton.org/node/136546 | Columbia Journalism Review
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PRESIDENTIAL ADVERTISING
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Wilner]
[Commentary] In the 2012 general election campaign alone, 1.1 million references have been made in ads to jobs, taxes, the budget and government spending. In contrast, fewer than 25,000 references have been made to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fewer than 100,000 ad occurrences have mentioned education; fewer than 10,000 have mentioned defense. About 4,000 have mentioned immigration; fewer than 400 have mentioned the U.S. Supreme Court. From April (when the race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney began) through the first day of October, 309 unique ads have aired a collective 797,553 times. Many ads mention more than one issue. For example, taxes are often paired with government spending, Medicare with healthcare, etc. Certain ads have aired thousands of times apiece across 60-plus media markets; others have aired a few times in a few markets, or only once. Our informal survey takes a little license in equalizing airings across media markets and dayparts, regardless of differing ad rates or audience size, which is a no-no in any serious evaluation of advertising but is fine for this simpler purpose.
[Wilner is VP of Kantar Media's CMAG, which tracks and analyzes broadcast TV advertising content, placement and spend.]
benton.org/node/136514 | AdAge
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NBC TELLS OBAMA NOT TO USE FOOTAGE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Dylan Byers]
NBC has asked President Barack Obama’s campaign to stop using the network’s footage in a recently released reelection ad. NBC told the Obama campaign to cease using network footage in a new 30-second spot, released shortly after the debate, in which Andrea Mitchell is shown on air citing an independent analysis that Mitt Romney’s tax plan would cost $4.8 trillion over 10 years. “NBC News has not granted any campaign permission to use our news material. As is our practice, we have requested that the Obama campaign refrain from using NBC News material in this and future advertisements,” the network said.
benton.org/node/136513 | Politico
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LABOR
CHEAPER COMPUTERS AND HIGHER TUITION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steven Pearlstein]
[Commentary] Look beneath the surface of our polarized political debate over budgets, taxes and the size of government and what you’ll find is that it is largely driven by the seemingly inexorable rise in the cost of providing health care and education and other necessary services. For conservatives, these rising costs are the inevitable result of too little competition, too much subsidy and regulation and too much power in the hands of public employee unions. For liberals, the problem is not so much the higher costs as the inability of ordinary Americans to pay for them, because so much of the national income is now captured by the rich. There is some truth to both arguments. But what if the more important explanation for our current predicament is that “goods” such as medical care and education, public safety or social work suffer from the fact that they are so labor intensive. It’s hard, if not impossible, for them to be produced more efficiently.
benton.org/node/136527 | Washington Post
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RESEARCH
GOVERNMENT AND RESEARCH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
Government support plays a vital role in incubating new ideas that are harvested by the private sector, sometimes many years later, creating companies and jobs. A report published this year by the National Research Council, a government advisory group, looked at eight computing technologies, including digital communications, databases, computer architectures and artificial intelligence, tracing government-financed research to commercialization. It calculated the portion of revenue at 30 well-known corporations that could be traced back to the seed research backed by government agencies. The total was nearly $500 billion a year. The long-term importance of government-supported research may loom small in the current debate over how to reduce the federal deficit. But it is an economic issue worth keeping in mind, and one that points to the kinds of tough choices and trade-offs facing policy makers.
benton.org/node/136485 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
PANEL RECOMMENDS BANNING ZTE, HUAWEI
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A congressional report concluded that two Chinese telecommunications firms pose a national-security threat to the United States and should be blocked from doing business in the country. After a yearlong investigation, the House Intelligence Committee concluded that telecom giants Huawei and ZTE failed to provide sufficient information to ease concerns that the Chinese government could use them to spy on the United States or sabotage critical communications networks. "Based on available classified and unclassified information, Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems," the investigators wrote. The report said the companies failed to provide detailed information about their ties to the Chinese Communist Party, their governance structures or operations in America. Congressional investigators said they also found evidence that Huawei might have engaged in bribery, corruption and copyright infringement. The committee recommended that the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States block acquisitions, takeovers or mergers involving Huawei and ZTE. They said Congress should consider proposals to expand the agency's authority to block purchasing agreements as well. They said the U.S. government should not use the companies' equipment and strongly recommended that American companies refrain from doing business with them.
The two companies disputed the findings of the report, saying their products are safe for use in the US. Huawei called the report’s findings "baseless." The company said that it cooperated with investigators "in open and transparent manner," making available its top executives and a wealth of its corporate information. ZTE, the smaller of the two companies, said in a statement that its products are safe and that it had set "an unprecedented standard for cooperation by any Chinese company with a congressional investigation."
benton.org/node/136517 | Hill, The | read the report | CNNMoney
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
US OPPOSES REVISION TO GLOBAL TELECOM RULES
[SOURCE: Agence France-Presse, AUTHOR: ]
The United States will oppose any major revision to 24-year-old global telecommunications regulations at an international conference in December, the head of the US delegation said, insisting the Internet must remain free and open. "We need to avoid suffocating ... the Internet space through well-meaning but overly-proscriptive proposals that would seek to control content or seek to mandate routing and payment practices," said Terry Kramer, the special envoy named for World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai at the end of the year. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Kramer said Washington was eager to cooperate with other nations to reach a consensus on alterations to global regulations set up by the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 1988, but stressed that only minimal changes would be acceptable. Kramer reiterated Washington's opposition to proposals from a number of countries to expand the ITU's authority to regulate the Internet, insisting, for instance, that his country did not want cyber security to fall under the UN agency's mandate.
benton.org/node/136551 | Agence France-Presse | Reuters
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FOXCONN STRIKE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:]
Multiple iPhone 5 production lines were "in a state of paralysis" after as many as 4,000 workers walked off the job at a factory in China, according to a labor group. A strike occurred at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou at 1 p.m. Beijing time Oct 5 because workers were forced to work during a holiday, China Labor Watch said. The organization also reported that Foxconn raised demands on product quality without providing proper training, so workers turned out products that didn't meet standards; that "ultimately put a tremendous amount of pressure on workers." China Labor Watch said 3,000 to 4,000 people walked off the job, most of them workers from the on-site quality control line. Quality control inspectors were reportedly "beat up multiple times by workers" during several fights that led to hospitalizations, the organization said.
benton.org/node/136470 | Los Angeles Times
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UK RURAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
Europe’s competition watchdog is ready to approve plans to pump £530 million of UK state aid into rural broadband, a move which would clear the way for long-delayed work to widen access to superfast internet connections. Joaquín Almunia, the European competition commissioner, has indicated he is happy for state funds to be used to support the initiative if some relatively minor changes are made to the design of the scheme. It marks a critical turning point in the difficult approval talks with Brussels and would be a second breakthrough for the government’s digital economy ambitions after a deal with mobile operators last week to accelerate the rollout of 4G mobile services. The Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme – which will roll out superfast internet access to most of the UK – has been delayed as the commission investigated whether it infringed rules on illegal state aid. The decision still needs to be rubber stamped by other commissioners, which is likely to delay any announcement until later this month, although those close to the talks said this is seen as a formality.
benton.org/node/136498 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE’S PRIVACY POLICY
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Charles Arthur]
Google's unilateral change to its privacy policy in March will come under fire from European data protection commissioners within days, sources say. The controversial changes, in which Google tied together the previously separate data collected under services including its search engine, YouTube and Google+ were announced in January and implemented two months later. While creating a unified privacy policy across all the services, it also in effect amassed the data into a single location. That attracted widespread criticism – and now the group of 30 data protection commissioners from across the European Union are believed to have determined that Google has breached EU privacy laws. Now Google might be required to undo the changes – although Auke Haagsma, a lawyer advising the lobby group Icomp, which is critical of Google's policies, said that would be like trying to "unscramble the egg."
benton.org/node/136503 | Guardian, The
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G-MAIL LAWSUIT
[SOURCE: Vancouver Sun, AUTHOR: Gillian Shaw]
If the British Columbia, Canada lawsuit against Google for its data mining of G-mail is successful, it has the potential to make anti-spam and anti-virus software that scans emails illegal. Similar cases have been launched in the United States, where Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the High Tech Law Institute, has characterized them as “are-you-kidding-me” lawsuits. “If electronic scrutiny of private email constitutes an interception then all anti-spam software violates that as well … the same probably with virus checkers,” Goldman said when asked about the lawsuit filed Thursday in BC Supreme Court. A Sunshine Coast man is seeking damages of $500 per email and an injunction that would stop Google from intercepting and using personal information it collects by scanning e-mails sent through Gmail. The statement of claim alleges that Google is violating the Privacy Act, infringing copyright and breaching the Competition Act.
benton.org/node/136495 | Vancouver Sun
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